Angela Palfrey

Angela Palfrey rallied in the 1950s, and for a couple of seasons was Britain's leading new female driver.

She is chiefly known for winning the Ladies’ Prize on the 1956 RAC Rally. Her car was an Austin A40, and she was navigated by Aileen Jervis, with Pauline Pither as a third team member. The rally ran between Blackpool and Hastings and had 2100 miles of navigation. The car itself belonged to her and was an older model no longer in production. She defeated Pat Moss and Mary Handley-Page, with Pat Moss taking a wrong turn around a pylon during a driving test.

The following month, she won the ladies' award in the Birmingham Post Rally. 

Previously, she had competed in a Morgan 4/4, and is recorded as the winner of the Worcester Motor Club’s Autocross event in 1955. She was only 20 at the time. Her first major rally award came in this car, the ladies' prize in the 1955 MCC Rally. The Morgan was borrowed from her boss at the fruit and vegetable canning factory where she worked, Barrie Phipps. Aileen Jervis had been her navigator again and they won £50 from the Daily Mirror. It was her first rally as a driver.

She drove another borrowed Morgan later in 1956, entering the Morecambe Rally, also sponsored by the Mirror. She also entered the MCC National Rally for a second time, starting from Kenilworth as she did before.

As well as rallies, she also competed on track occasionally. In summer 1956, she took to the circuits at Oulton Park, taking part in the Lancashire & Cheshire MC's high-speed trials. There were two trials lasting half an hour each, and Angela used the A40 she had driven in the RAC Rally. 

Angela was from Pershore in Worcestershire. Her competition career was very short and she does not appear to have rallied after 1957. During her brief time as a rally driver, she enjoyed the spotlight. The newspapers liked reporting on this very young, pretty and talented new star.

Her married name was Phipps; she married Barrie Phipps in 1958. She died in 2018, aged 83.

(Image copyright Daily Mirror)

Ella Lloyd

Ella Lloyd is a British driver who races single-seaters, most famously in the all-female F1 Academy championship.

She began her motorsport career in 2022, racing in Ginetta Juniors at the age of 16. She got into motorsport through the FIA’s Girls on Track karting challenge in 2018, having never done any karting before.

Her best results at the start of the 2022 season were three 16th places, achieved at Brands Hatch and Knockhill. Later, she improved, picking up an eleventh place at Thruxton. She was 21st overall.

The first year of her senior career, 2023, ended with a runner-up in the Pro class of the Ginetta GT5 Challenge, after a series of wins. She had 17 podium finishes from 25 races, ten of those being wins in the Pro class.

She then switched to single-seaters in 2024, first in the Formula Winter Series, then in British F4. Rodin entered her for the last two rounds of the Winter Series, taking over from Bart Harrison. It was a cautious start and she only got in the top 20 once, although she also scored more points than Harrison or some drivers who did a full season.

She was eleventh in the F4 championship, impressing many with her pace, despite her limited single-seater experience. The work she had put in over the winter had started to pay off. During the year, she scored three second places, at Silverstone, Knockhill and Brands. This led to a wildcard entry for the Singapore rounds of F1 Academy, where she was ninth and seventh. Later in the year, she took part in the Formula E Women's Test at Jarama, recording the seventh-best set of times. As a result, she was invited back to test again for the McLaren team at Berlin Tempelhof in 2025.

For 2025, she was signed by the Rodin team as McLaren's supported driver in the series. To prepare, she entered the Formula 4 Middle East Trophy. This wasn't a huge success; in the five races she did, her best finishes were 17th places at Yas Marina.

F1 Academy itself was more successful. In the third race at Jeddah, she scored her first win, following it up with three second places later in Canada.

She is from a motorsport family - both parents and her older brother compete - and she has won junior championships in both downhill skiing and showjumping.

(Image copyright F1 Academy)

Jean Aley

Jean at the Brands Hatch ladies' race. She is fourth from the right, turning away from the camera

Jean Aley drove saloon cars in the 1960s, and also competed in rallies.

She was born into a motor racing family. Her father Anthony Curtis was one of the founding directors of HRG sportscars and both he and her mother Nancy were regular visitors to Brooklands. Jean's first practical involvement was through working for motor clubs, including the BARC and BRSCC. Between 1958 and 1960, she sprinted a Cooper sportscar and was second in class in the 1958 Brighton Speed Trials. 

Jean married John Aley in 1960, and he encouraged her to race again from 1961 onwards, usually in a Mini. She had taken some time out after an accident at Silverstone in the Cooper.

Her best year for saloons was 1962, when she drove a Mini in the Nürburgring 6 Hours and 500km races. She and Daphne Freeman did not finish the 500km, but she was fifth in class in the 6 Hours, driving with her husband John. Their Mini was described as "very standard". 

She was also one of nine women who entered a ladies' race at Brands Hatch, organised by the fledgling British Women Racing Drivers' Club. She was third, driving a Mini, behind two Lotus Sevens driven by Liz Osborn and Wendy Hamblin. Talking to the Daily Express, she said that the race had been a warm-up for the Nürburgring, and that John had lent Daphne their other Mini, a "shopping car", for the race. 

A second run in the Nürburgring 6 Hours followed in 1965, driving a little Fiat Abarth with John and Tim Lalonde. Their finishing position is unclear. Her year had begun inasupiciously, with John taking over her Mini for a round of the British Saloon Car Championship at Snetterton. His team had entered two DKWs for German drivers, but John's own car was out of action, so he took Jean's. 

Competing against each other apparently caused some friction between the Aleys, and Jean concentrated on sprints and hillclimbs after that.

Plans were discussed for an endurance trial in a smaller Fiat-Abarth in February 1967. John, Jean and drivers from the Cambridge University Automobile Club aimed to run the car day and night at Snetterton for a week, covering 1000 miles per day. It is not clear whether this ever took place.

In rallies, she occasionally navigated. She sat alongside Sheleagh Aldersmith for the 1963 Monte Carlo Rally. Unfortunately, their rally ended before they had even got on a ferry to the Continent; the radiator exploded within a few miles of Jean's house. John took some responsibility, claiming he should have checked it. 

Both of the Aleys were now involved in motorsport outside of active competition. John sometimes served as Clerk of the Course at Snetterton, with Jean as Secretary of the Meeting. Later, they managed the circuit and founded the BRSCC East Anglian branch.

Her career seems to have ended after a road accident in 1967, when a tanker sideswiped her car at a junction. She and her female passenger were both injured. After this, she continued with her administrative work, organsising two European Touring Car Championships with John.

The couple ended up divorcing. Jean remarried.

(Image copyright Daily Mirror)

Women in the Tour of Britain

Sue Baker (left) and Jean Denton (right) in 1973

The Tour of Britain was a heavily-publicised summer event held in the UK in the 1970s, a three-day contest consisting of rally stages and races at circuits around the UK. It attracted professional race and rally drivers up to and including James Hunt and Jody Scheckter, as well as celebrities such as Noel Edmonds and Jimmy Savile. In later editions, rally drivers such as Roger Clark came to the fore, including many who travelled from across Europe.

Cars were required to follow Group 1 regulations, but came in all shapes and sizes. They were separated into classes based on their sale value. 

The Tour was sponsored by Avon tyres from 1973 to 1975, when Texaco took over. It was briefly revived in 1989, sponsored by Autoglass, but did not attract as many entries. No women took part. 

Prior to this, women had entered every time.

1973 (Won by James Hunt/Robert Fearnall, Chevrolet Camaro Z28)

Rosemary Smith/Pauline Gullick (Ford Capri) - 15th

Wendy Markey/Jenny Dell (BMW 2002 Ti) - 29th

Gillian Fortescue-Thomas/Caroline Faulder (Ford Escort Mexico) - DNF?

Jill Robinson/Frances Cobb (Ford Cortina GT) - DNF?

Alison Davis/Sheila Scott (Fiat 124 ST) - DNF?

Jenny Birrell (Simca Rallye 1) - DNF?

Jean Denton/Sue Baker (Fiat 127) - DNF?

1974 (Won by Roger Clark/Jim Porter, Ford Escort RS2000 MkI) 

Linda Jackson/Christine Mitchell (Ford RS2000 MkI) - 56th

Jenny Birrell/Alexa Davenport (Simca Rallye 2) - DNF

1975 (Won by Tony Pond/David Richards, Ford Escort RS2000 MkI) 

Jenny Birrell/Virginia Hall-Leeke (Chrysler Avenger GT) - 12th

Maggie Anderson/Susan Tucker-Peake (Renault 17TS) - 22nd

Rosemary Smith/Pauline Gullick (Ford RS2000 MkI) - 25th

Wendy Markey/Frances Cobb (Mazda MX-3) - DNF?

1976 (Won by Ari Vatanen/Peter Bryant, Ford Escort RS2000 MkII)

Jean Denton/Jackie Smith (Fiat 128 Coupe) - DNF?

Wendy Markey/Alison Jones (Lada 1200) - DNF?

(Image copyright Shutterstock/Daily Mirror)